An increase in property taxes and the cost of the by-election got brought up on Wednesday night(Jan29) for the Town of Smithers proposed new five-year budget.
Chief Administrative Officer, Alan Harris mentioned the budget is reflecting a 5.40% increase for the town’s property taxes.
The increase is factoring in the 0.2223% increase in assessment growth in 2019.
Harris said local businesses are required to pay 1% of their growth revenues for utility fees.
“The one percent utility fees are based on the revenue two years prior so, 2018 and they’ve gone down,” he said.
The proposed budget also mentioned the by-election and the application for the library grant.
Harris also said what would happen if Council does not get the library grant.
“If we are unfortunate in getting the library grant we can’t hold off the election because of that,” he said.
Council will be discussing the proposed budget on Monday (Feb 3) and from there it has the possibility of being adopted.
The budget proposal is available on the Smithers website.
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